School Uniforms

I looooove school uniforms. During the 50s through the 90s, school uniforms were the exclusive property of private and parochial schools and much maligned and disparaged. It was considered more fashionable and "free" to allow children to wear whatever they chose to school. The one exception through that period was gym uniforms, covered on another page, a situation which has begun to reverse itself in the late 90s.

Curiously, as both children and their parents demanded more "freedom" in their choice of school apparel, once the freedom was acquired their actual "go to school" clothing choices narrowed to what was essentially a uniform in its own right. Instead of being distinguished by school, the new uniform adopted across school boundaries consisted of "looks" -- the "geek" look, the "jock" look, the "prep" look, the "goth" look, etc. Each group moved toward uniformity of dress every bit as regimented as traditional school uniforms, except that these group-based uniforms were nowhere as neat or crisp as the traditional uniforms the kids were rebelling against. Odd, isn't it?

In my humble opinion, there are few outfits more cool looking than a crisp school uniform with its neatly pleated plaid skirt or jumper, a bright white blouse with short puffed sleeves and a Peter Pan collar. During the 50s through the 70s, parochial schools required saddle shoes and knee-socks as part of the uniform, further defining the style which has come to be called "the school girl look." I am a big fan of plaid knife-pleated skirts and plaid jumpers with knife-pleated skirts. I am no fan of box-pleated skirts at all.

Now, in response to increasing gang violence and the cost of "designer" clothing which kids "just have to have" the tide appears to be changing and uniforms are coming back in to vogue, this time at public schools. Unfortunately, the selections made by the parent/school teams are usually the most drab navy or gray box-pleated jumpers which, to me, are not even worth putting on. Sigh...

Following the convention of my fashion pages, I am presenting below a sample of some really cute uniforms and, if they are still available, ordering information and Taffy's recommended vendors. An individual asked on alt.fashion.crossdressing for a list of school uniform suppliers and, in my eagerness to reply, overlooked the fact that the person was in England.

	Pleasant Company, the source of American Girl Dolls, offers Molly's plaid school jumper so girls can dress as smartly as their dolls. Although not an explicit uniform, this style is instantly recognizable as a "school" jumper, especially when coupled with bobby or socks and saddle shoes.
	This is a crew-necked jumper with knife-pleated .of the type typical of parochial schools. A Peter Pan collared blouse completes the outfit. I am not too fond of the split down the center front, although this is common.
	This is my favorite style jumper, a round neck and a knife-pleated skirt. Pair this with the Peter Pan collared blouse shown, knee socks and saddle shoes and you have the ultimate school uniform.
	Two examples of the above, taken from older JC Penney catalogs. I am partial to plaids and one reason is that they tend to appear cleaner. Stains and dog hair are much more obvious on the blue one on the left.
	A smocked school jumper, complete with matching outfit for an American Girl doll, comes from the pages of Sew Beautiful magazine. An example of how a simple design can be made even more precious through smocking.
	Two uniforms from an older JC Penney catalog showing how well saddle shoes compliment the uniform. I think the knee socks look better than the tights shown on the left.
	Butterick pattern 6783 represents the "French" style of school uniforms. Popular in Europe, this style is relatively uncommon in the US. This is especially cute with the short puffed sleeves on the left..
	This is a modern offering of the French style, offered by the Greene Uniform Company as part of their summer collection. Uniforms of light colors such as this are becoming more common in the sweltering climates of the Southeast..
	This one-piece style, reminiscent of a gym uniform is also offered by Greene and is made of a crisp polyester. I ordered this one and never heard a peep from the company until a box showed up on my doorstep with the finished uniform. A good choice for summer school..
	These are examples of the French Toast uniforms widely marketed through K-Mart, Target and Wal-Mart. The V-neck jumper is common seen in navy, green or gray. Jumpers are reserved for the younger girls, while the older girls are usually outfitted in polo shirts and skirts..
	If the uniform is to be a skirt and a shirt, this would be an excellent choice. The button down collared shirt is softened by the school monogrammed v-neck sweater.
	This summer kilt and blouse uniform is a specialty of the Greene Uniform Company. While not a plaid, it nonetheless has the crispness characteristic of a school uniform.
	The skirt, blouse and sleeveless sweater combination is popular in Japan. Shoes are usually loafers for ease in changing as shoes are not worn inside. The girls leave their shoes at the entrance to the school in pigeonholes and wear slippers.
	Of course, if you are going to wear a white blouse with a school uniform, what could be better than a blouse with short puffy sleeves and a Peter Pan collar, especially if the collar and the sleeve cuffs are trimmed with a band matching the uniform's color? This one is offered by Sue Mills.

If you are wondering, "Why hasn't Taffy included those incredibly cute Japanese Sailor-style uniforms on this page?" the answer is quite simple. I have another page set aside just for these beauties, accessible here or through the distinct "Sailor" button on my fashion page.

Now for how to get yourself a school uniform. You can do as Debbie did, walk into your local school uniform supply store and ask, "What do you have in stock that will fit me?" Or, you can do as Karen and I have done; go to the websites of the uniform companies and place your order on-line.

Things to keep in mind: Most uniform companies offer stock sizes in stock patterns and stock fabrics. Knowing your closest size will give you a whole lot of flexibility. Otherwise, you will have to order a "custom" uniform. Custom is slightly more expensive and takes longer, but it results in a superior fit.

Secondly, school uniforms, especially school jumpers, are made for girls figures rather than women's figures. In other words, they are not as "X" shaped as one would expect for a woman. Men/boys/girls have a more "H" shaped figure. The head circumference is larger on a man than on a girl of comparable girth, and this is important to keep in mind if you are looking for a round-necked jumper, which may require a zipper for easy entry.

Most of the companies offer the usual assortment of styles:
    - skirts in either A-line, box pleat or knife pleat
    - jumpers with pleats (box or knife) or without
    - blouses with pointed collars or Peter Pan collars

Occasionally you will find kilts, sailor collar blouses or school dresses, but they are unique to one supplier. Likewise, plaids vary from one supplier to another. For quantity, you can match a plaid fabric, but for one-offs, you may have to look around to find what you want.

If you like plaids, as I do (round-necked jumpers with knife-pleated skirt), you will be happy to note that many of the firms that sell plaid uniforms also sell accessories such as hair bands and bows, as well as backpacks. Looking coordinated is cool...

Here are some sites and my most recent observations:

My favorite is Catholic Supply of Saint Louis, <http://www.catholicsupply.com>. They are extremely nice to deal with, are very professional and several of us LGs have gotten very neat-looking uniforms from them. Due to lack of demand, they have let their seamstress go, so custom uniforms from them are a thing of the past. I hated to see that happen since I really like them and want to send them some business. They do have a wide selection of stock sizes, styles and fabrics.

Attie's <http://www.atties.com/webcart/catindex.htm> has a very nice selection of sizes, styles and fabrics online. The one drawback is that custom orders can take up to three months to come in. There a $6 fee above the price of a Larger Size jumper. They recommend that a more time effective way to go might be to order the closest size and have the alterations done locally. Measure twice, cut once...

JC Penney <http://www.jcpenney.com> has what a site needs in terms of computing horsepower to do serious business on the web. You can order anything in their catalogs using only the catalog number. While they have a lot of stuff on-line and don't have images of everything they sell on their site, but you can certainly order it. The downside is that doing a search on the categories you would expect will yield no results. Curiously, their uniforms are only shown in their Fall big book or the separate school uniform catalog. However, once you have the item numbers, you can buy it all on-line.

Sue Mills, <http://www.suemills.com/>, one of the country's largest suppliers has apparently seen the light and is putting up an on-line ordering facility.. Sue Mills is still holding onto their old style of uniform sales, i.e., producing a brochure for each school which gives the uniforms for that school and pricing information. Their site requires that you know the name of the school or their code number to order a specific uniform. This is a huge pain and I dearly hope that they change this policy as I love their uniforms.

School Belles <http://www.schoolbelles.com>, a division of Kip Craft, has followed Sue Mills' example of requiring the potential customer to enter the school name or number for which the uniform is designed in order to even enter their on-line catalog. I honestly wish these people would just open their catalog and let their customers browse.

Greene Uniform Company <http://www.greeneuniform.com> is problematic for me. Their site shows some of the most beautiful uniforms, although there was no sizing page, no indication of what anything costs or what the cost would be for custom sizing. I really do wish that Greene would stop trying to use the web as a come-on to get people to order a paper catalog and just put up a secure ordering website befitting their snappy looking outfits. Pay particular attention to their Summer uniforms. I have purchased uniforms from Greene, via FAX, and am extremely pleased with the quality and fit although I heard nothing from them until the uniforms showed up in the mail.

School Apparel, Inc. <http://www.aplusfabrics.com/> claims that they will have a "new" website up soon. Their old site was nothing more than a pointer to a fabric supplier.

Coto Unlimited <http://www.cotounlimited.com/> has a very basic set of uniforms, jumpers and skirts in a very small selection of colors. Coto bills itself as a discount school uniform supplier.

Factory Direct Uniforms <http://www.fduniforms.com/> has a small selection of sizes. Nothing above a girls size 20 (not girls plus). Their distribution method seems to be that of creating school-based stores to sell their products.

Ibiley School Uniforms <http://www.ibiley.com/> is directed at the schools they support. They have a limited selection of patterns and styles, and their selection of sizes runs to the smaller sizes.

Inkas S'cool Wear <http://www.inkascoolwear.com/> is another vendor with a reasonable selection of merchandise, with more emphasis on smaller sizes.

Kettmann's School Uniforms <http://www.school-clothes.com/> has a partial catalog on-line. Prices vary by fabric and such, so you have to call the store to get the actual price. This is the old, non-web model at work.

Merry Mart <http://www.mmuniforms.com/> has the standard assortment, unfortunately only in small sizes.

Royal-Park Uniforms <http://www.royal-park.com> "is the nation's largest manufacturer of plaid jumpers and skirts for the school industry." Featuring: Over 60 different styles of jumpers, skirts, shorts, culottes and slacks; over 100 different plaids available; over 30 different solids available; fabric contents include: 100% polyester, 65/35 polyester/cotton, 50% polyester - 50% wool; all fabrics are special to the uniform industry to withstand the rigors of everyday wear; 48 sizes available as stock sizes on most items; will special make any size to fit anyone; uniform and fabric inventory maintained year round; and all fabrics and uniforms are Made in the USA. But do they have a secure ordering page? Nooo. They will send you literature or have a rep call you, but ordering out of the blue is a huge "no cigar."

School-Days Uniforms <http://www.school-days.com/> has an interesting approach. They sell "packages" of uniforms. Everything a kid needs for a whole year of school. Alas, the sizing only goes up to girls 16. They won't fit me...

Frank Bee <http://www.schoolunif.com/> has just about every uniform you could imagine wanting, except for sailor style uniforms, and you can order on-line. They have scouting uniforms, cheer uniforms and saddle shoes as well.

There are no doubt other companies on the web. Companies seem to sprout up like mushrooms after a rain, but as of yet the industry is still new to the medium. I think it will be a while before it shakes itself out.

Taffy's Favorite Uniforms